Although Via Technologies commands a higher public profile than SIS, SIS has historically dominated the low-end chipset market, competing with Via for the second position in overall sales. With the SiS656, SIS appears to be targeting the boutique performance niche. DDR-667 DRAM has yet to make an appearance, however, so the chipset will appeal to overclockers.

“DDR2 promises to bring new potential to desktop and notebooks, offering higher performance with lower power consumption and less heat,” said Daniel Chen, president and chief executive of Taiwan’s SiS, in a statement. “Our SiS656 chipset gives SiS customers a necessary edge in today’s competitive market.”

The memory controller allows users to plug in up to 4 Gbytes of memory, using a tri-state controller that will allow users to plug in older 64-bit single-channel modules, matched dual-channel modules, or even mismatched dual-channel DIMMs. DDR2-667 memory modules from Samsung and Micron have both successfully passed SiS’ compatibility test, SIS said. Other brands, such as Infineon, Hynix and Elpida, are currently undergoing compatibility testing and are expected to complete the testing process shortly.

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